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People are at work today and tomorrow and it's not an event that you play hooky for. So there are just not enough eyeballs to justify start to finish coverage everyday. I would be surprised if there was not more coverage available online.

The more general answer: the Masters does not need any money. its not really a for profit event (which is what usually drives coverage). I'm sure they make money on it, but nobody who is a member or on the board of the Masters ever has to worry about money.

Yeah, between the US networks not wanting to pay a premium for early weekday broadcast rights (not enough American viewers), and the club not wanting to sell those out cheap elsewhere, this is what you get.

Usually you can find some internet live streamed coverage (amen corner) before then. They used to do it right from Masters.com. Not sure if they still do, but TSN.ca live streams amen corner for canadians, and 15 and 16 this year, too. I'd imagine the UK would get something similar if you looked, and ESPN.com might do that in the states.

I've been commenting on this all week. it's ridiculous. the other majors have all day coverage. the british open is shown in the middle of the night so you can watch all of it. hell, even a regular event will have early coverage on golf channel. I can understand if ESPN doesn't want to spend all day on it, but at least put it on the golf channel starting at noon or something. the cameras are running anyway. the only coverage they have online is featured holes and pairings. you can't get overall coverage online.

Yes it's a strange one. We've just had all 4 rounds of the Texas Open, following on from all 4 rounds of the Houston Open. I can see almost all of the USPGA and European tour events. Now we get to the Masters and coverage starts after 1/2 the field have finished their first round!

We get some coverage of a couple of feature groups and Amen Corner before the main broadcast, from tomorrow (I think), but it's very poor coverage overall.

a) I can't watch weekdays until late anyway
b) All the TV coverage does is stalk Tiger, Phil, maybe Rory, and anyone within a shot of the lead. As a person who has been rooting in the past for people not included in that but still very much in contention, and having them disappear, I kind of like the hole by hole streaming.

Augusta National always has limited coverage. It was loosened up some number of years ago to give us as "much" as we now have; think back to what it was like before they allowed any front-nine coverage and maybe two hours of coverage on Saturday and Sunday. It has nothing to do with limited eyes being available midweek impacting the network decision; the network has very little say over anything, preferring to supplicate itself so as to keep the contract.

Augusta National always has limited coverage. It was loosened up some number of years ago to give us as "much" as we now have; think back to what it was like before they allowed any front-nine coverage and maybe two hours of coverage on Saturday and Sunday. It has nothing to do with limited eyes being available midweek impacting the network decision; the network has very little say over anything, preferring to supplicate itself so as to keep the contract.

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So are you saying that it is a conscious decision by the Augusta management to limit TV coverage? What would be the rationale behind that, surely not just to boost attendance at the event?

So are you saying that it is a conscious decision by the Augusta management to limit TV coverage? What would be the rationale behind that, surely not just to boost attendance at the event?

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Yes, it has always been a conscious decision by Augusta to limit coverage. It is a private event, not under the purview of the PGA Tour and their usual TV coverage contract. Augusta doesn't need the money, they are control freaks, and want to maintain an air of exclusiveness and don't want the usual freak show that accompanies most other tour events. They control the crowd levels, what the patrons can and cannot bring into the event, which announcers can be used, and which ones are excluded, etc, etc, etc. I am sure there are a lot more reasons, but these came up from previous accounts of why this is so.

So are you saying that it is a conscious decision by the Augusta management to limit TV coverage? What would be the rationale behind that, surely not just to boost attendance at the event?

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control baby! ask any Augusta National member and they'll say you're lucky you get any TV coverage at all. hell, you're lucky the event is even open to the public! it's still bullshit though. I was there the last 2 years on Sunday and it's an incredible experience, but TV is way better to actually see the action. unless you happen to get lucky and are standing right on the hole where something amazing happens, you just hear the crowd roar and then have to look for a scoreboard to see what happened.

So are you saying that it is a conscious decision by the Augusta management to limit TV coverage? What would be the rationale behind that, surely not just to boost attendance at the event?

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That's exactly it. You can't look at the Masters as a typical commercial event. That's why ads are limited and why they went w/o them in the wake of Burk's Bluster.

The rationale is perceived exclusivity. And CBS plays right along with the charade by buying into the bullshit about "patrons" not fans and all the other clutter that goes along with the ass kiss CBS gladly administers to keep the contract. Or ask Gary McCord what he thinks. (For the record, McCord not being on a broadcast team is a very good thing, but CBS should've stood up for him.)

And not an attendance boost. Just try getting a ticket to the Masters.

Thanks all for the clarification! So now I should not be complaining about the broadcasters when I watch the spotty coverage, I should be complaining about the Augusta management. Or perhaps I should just boycott the event as a stand against the ultra elitism of Augusta.

We've now got Amen Corner, 15 & 16, and 2 featured groups starting in 10 minutes, so not all bad.

One of the talking heads on ESPN yesterday announced that the Masters is THE most important tournament out there. There was the usual bluster but the entire justification went back to Jones and tradition and the "invitation." What crap. You'd have to go to a opposite field event to find a weaker lineup.

Hey, I think it's cool, I'll certainly watch it, the golf can be pretty damn exciting and while it's bad for the greater game, it is something to look at from a visual perspective.

Ironically, for strength of field, none of the majors beats the ugly stepchild of the majors, the PGA Championship. The Open Championship is watered down by its past champions allowances and a lot of exemptions handed out -- to insure international participation, which I get -- to a lot of scratch-your-head events around the globe. The "open" qualifications of the U.S. Open are somewhat less of a handout, but they do get a lot of guys into the field who really have no chance. Augusta? Please. It is a great event, but the winner never beats a truly deep, quality field.

I think depth of field is overrated, personally. The Masters has the truly elite players of the game, and then adds amateurs and former champs for tradition.

The PGA might have the most guys who can realistically win, but that just means someone who is barely holding onto his card can catch lightning in a bottle and grab the W.

I like the pre-qualification of the Masters. You need to be accomplished just to be there.

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So elite that last year's Masters did not include the guy who would win the Open Championship a few months later, for his fourth major. lol

Guys barely holding on to their tour cards aren't in the PGA Championship (though they might make the U.S. Open field). One of the top non-winner qualification standards is top 70 over the previous year on tour. Now a legit beef could be made over the club pro allowances.